Zach Braff’s "Wish I Was Here"

Zach Braff is currently performing on Broadway, and for a time
he starred in the TV comedy Scrubs. But he's also known for directing and
starring in the 2004 film Garden State, a model of 20-something angst.

Braff also directs
and stars in his latest film, Wish I Was Here, which he co-wrote with his
older brother, Adam. The collaboration yielded a coming-of-age story of sorts.
It's about a guy who hasn't quite earned the title of adult, even though he's
already a family man with kids. Braff's character, Aidan Bloom, struggles when his
father is diagnosed with cancer and his wife, the family breadwinner, starts to
rethink her role.

Braff talks to
NPR's Audie Cornish about what inspired him and his brother to write the story
and the similarities between the female protagonists in Garden
State and Wish I Was Here.

On what inspired Braff and
his brother to write this story

My brother is in
one of those situations — his wife is the primary wage earner and he is home
more often with the kids as he writes and pursues his artistic endeavors. And
we started seeing that in lots of different aspects of our lives, both with
people in the arts and people who weren't.

And so another
thing we wanted to talk about was how that affected masculinity — this societal
agreement we have had for years that the man is the primary breadwinner and the
man takes care of his family — and how that change might be affecting
masculinity and child-rearing and all of those things that come along with it.
It was something that we found really interesting but didn't really see anyone
writing about.

On Aidan's insistence on
pursuing his dream?

He's pursuing an
entertainment dream, but we really wanted it to be a metaphor for anyone
pursuing their dream in any way, whether that be, you know, finding true love
or starting their business or whatever it is — insert your dream here.

The question for
us was ... if this is it, how do I make the most of my life? How do I make the
most of my time here? And how long am I allowed to pursue all the things I
thought I was going to do when I was a kid and when I was in college and when I
was wide-eyed and I was in my 20s? And now I have a family, now I have bills,
now I have so many responsibilities.

On how Aidan's pursuit
of his dream affects his relationship with his wife, played by Kate Hudson?

I think there
[are] a lot of relationships out there — it's not always the woman, sometimes
it's the man — where one person has really dedicated their lives to helping the
other person pursue their dream. And they love them and they believe in them
and they root for them, but at a certain point they're saying, "I can't do
anymore. I need help." And that's what Kate's character is saying in this
film, is "I do love you, and I do support you. But, you know, I can't be
the only one on this treadmill doing this job I don't like to feed our kids. I
need help." ...

One of the things
that Aidan learns is that he has to show up for his family. He has to rally; he
has to find a way to continue to pursue his goals but not be so checked-out,
not to have disappeared from his family. I mean, I think if he finds any
spirituality in the film, that's what he finds.

On the similarities between
the female protagonists in Garden State, played by Natalie Portman,
and Wish I Was Here

I've always had
this fantasy of being saved by a great woman, a powerful woman. I mean, yes,
Natalia's character was quirky and silly, or maybe that's just the type of
woman I'm attracted to so I sort of wrote my dream girl. But I've always loved
this fantasy that I would be rescued and saved by a great, strong woman. And I
think in both films there are very strong women who are helping men come into
maturity. I mean, they say that women and girls mature faster than men and I
think in this film Kate's character is a very, very strong woman who's doing
her best to hold an entire family together. The men are running around thinking
like they're in control when really, behind the scenes, it's a strong woman
that is, you know, keeping this family together.

On what he learned from
making the film?

It definitely
taught me I want to have kids. I can't wait to have children one day. I'm a
really good uncle and I love my nieces and nephews, and I really love this
young actress, Joey King, who played my daughter. She's just so special. And,
you know, just that relationship of when your child is, you know, old enough to
just teach you so much, and just the idea of a young child bringing you back to
possibility and hope through their young wide eyes is something that's very
intoxicating to me.